A HEALTHY Darcy Moore could become a vital weapon for Collingwood from kick-ins this season, stats from the JLT Community Series suggest.
Moore took the most kick-ins of any player in the AFL across two JLT Community Series games, with the athletic defender playing on from those situations on eight out of 13 occasions according to Champion Data.
Eagles pair Shannon Hurn and Lewis Jetta were next on the list with 12 total kick-ins apiece, with Hurn playing on from nine of his kick-ins and Jetta with six.
Fremantle's Nathan Wilson (a total of 11 kick-ins) and Greater Western Sydney veteran Heath Shaw (nine) rounded out the top five of the kick-in list.
The Magpies are keen to maximise Moore's athleticism and raking right boot from that part of the ground with the adjustments made to the kick-in rule for 2019 suiting a player of his ilk.
Setups from kick-ins is an area of the game Collingwood practiced consistently over summer, with Moore – not surprisingly – taking the bulk of the kick-ins in drills at training.
For context, Collingwood's opponents – Fremantle and Carlton – kicked 25 behinds between them in two JLT games.
RULES WASH-UP How your team adjusted in pre-season
That the man on the mark has been brought back to 10m away from the kicker and the player is able to play on from the goalsquare, without kicking the ball to himself, meant there was a big increase in the 'play on' aspect of the ruling.
Although a small sample size, players 'played on' 70 per cent of the time from an opposition set-shot and 59 per cent of the time from a missed shot in general play in the pre-season competition.
Those figures are drastically raised from the 2018 home and away season, with teams playing on 27 per cent of the time from wayward set-shots and just 24 per cent from errant shots on the run.
Stats also point to teams more effectively defending opposition kick-ins with just 5.2 per cent of kick-ins leading to a score in the JLT Community Series.
That figure went down from eight per cent across the 2018 home and away season and perhaps signals a change in mindset from opposition teams who decided to push their zones further back to prevent coast-to-coast scores.
Moore managed just seven games last season after he suffered recurring hamstring issues. The 23-year-old is slated to play a key role in Collingwood's backline in 2019, with Lynden Dunn still recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.
The defender was given the responsibility of playing on Carlton's Charlie Curnow on Monday and did an excellent job in a shut-down role, while still gathering 17 disposals.
Moore is likely to spend time on Geelong spearhead Tom Hawkins in round one.
2018 AFL | Play On % | IN50 % (Play On) | IN50 % (Square) |
Slow Kick-in | 27% | 12.8% | 18.1% |
Fast Kick-in | 24% | 16.8% | 22.2% |
2019 JLT | Play On % | IN50 % (Play On) | IN50 % (Square) |
Slow Kick-in | 70% | 18.8% (19/101) | 9.3% (4/43) |
Fast Kick-in | 59% | 15.0% (20/133) | 19.6% (18/92) |
Slow kick-in = A behind from a set-shot
Fast kick-in = A behind kicked from general play
STAT | 2018 | 2019 JLT |
Kick-In Play-on% | 25.3% | 63.3% |
Kick-In to Fwd Half | 22.9% | 17.7% |
Kick-In to F50 | 10.2% | 9.0% |
Kick-In to Score % | 8.0% | 5.2% |
Most kick-ins in the JLT Community Series
Player | Play-on | In square | Total |
1. Darcy Moore | 8 | 5 | 13 |
2. Shannon Hurn | 9 | 3 | 12 |
3. Lewis Jetta | 6 | 6 | 12 |
4. Nathan Wilson | 8 | 3 | 11 |
5. Heath Shaw | 3 | 6 | 9 |
6. Daniel Rich | 5 | 4 | 9 |
7. Jayden Short | 6 | 2 | 8 |
8. Jordan Murdoch | 6 | 1 | 7 |
9. Shane Savage | 5 | 2 | 7 |
10. Christian Salem | 5 | 2 | 7 |
11. Conor McKenna | 2 | 5 | 7 |
12. Brodie Smith | 6 | 1 | 7 |
13. Caleb Daniel | 4 | 2 | 6 |
14. Luke Ryan | 3 | 3 | 6 |
15. Marty Hore | 5 | 1 | 6 |
16. Jasper Pittard | 1 | 5 | 6 |
17. Jackson Thurlow | 4 | 2 | 6 |
18. Hayden Crozier | 6 | 0 | 6 |
19. Kade Simpson | 6 | 0 | 6 |
20. Ryan Burton | 3 | 3 | 6 |